


a golden outline

by candylestrade



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series), Fantasy High
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Gen, Guardian Angel AU, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Death, M/M, more tags to be added as i write this, the major character death is bc riz is an angel in this au!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:28:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28560591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/candylestrade/pseuds/candylestrade
Summary: Riz Gukgak, temporary hire for the Interdimensional Department of Celestial Guardians, is sent to be friends with a young, morally-wayward pirate's son. Theoretically, this should be a full-time thing, but he makes himself fade from the boy's life about two years after he arrives.Three years after that, two teachers (and one lunch lady) die on Fabian Aramais Seacaster's first day at school, and his guardian feels like if there's any time to step back into his work shoes, it's now.
Relationships: Riz Gukgak/Fabian Aramais Seacaster
Comments: 39
Kudos: 100





	1. unusual circumstances

**Author's Note:**

> hi!! i've been working on this au for a little bit, trying to get back into the groove of writing. if you are here for rottmnt fics, sorry! i'm working on it! this is a new hyperfixation and i literally can't stop my brain from running wild with it. anyway ENJOY

When Pok Gukgak died, something went very, very wrong.

At the time, this was only known to three people. Pok Gukgak himself, a shadow in the back of the Gukgak apartment, and Sklonda Gukgak.

Pok knew. Pok felt his body burning, hearing the laugh of his attacker, felt a crushing pain in his chest that was entirely separate from the fire raking across him, and could have sworn he heard a child crying.

The shadow knew. The shadow had been watching for a while, and it was entirely the shadows fault that this was happening.

Sklonda knew, only because her 9 year-old son started breathing heavily. The sound rattled through the small apartment, as she panicked and tried to soothe him, hoping that it would be enough. 

It wasn’t.

When Riz Gukgak opened his eyes, he was in his fathers arms.

-

“Pok, you must understand, there’s just no way we can send him back down…”

“But it wasn’t even his time yet, your friend told me that not five minutes ago! He’s even still aging, that’s not right! That isn’t how this works!”

Pok Gukgak strode down the silvery hall, away from the soft, cloud-like room Riz had been sleeping in, holding him in his arms. The angel next to him, a tall orcish man, was trying to keep up with the goblins' quick steps.

“There’s nothing we can do, sir. Despite the strange circumstances surrounding his passing, he is now deceased. We can certainly refer you to our special operations team to investigate it, if you would like?” 

Riz stirred in his arms. “Dad, is that…” Pok’s breath caught in his throat as his son opened his eyes. “Where’re we goin’?”

His footsteps slowed, and he leant against the wall. “I don’t know, kiddo.” Riz shuffled around in his arms, and he carefully repositioned him so he could hold him in a hug. Trying to process all the emotions right now was too much; he just wanted to hold his son.

  
  


He realised, at some point, that he had sat down. The orcish angel hadn’t left, and was sitting opposite him patiently. Riz had fallen back asleep, and had rested his head against his dad's chest. Pok glanced over at the orc.

“How can… Is there anything you can do? I know this is a unique situation, but he wasn’t supposed to… to die like that.” 

The angel sighed. “We’ll see what we can do, Pok.” 

-

Riz Gukgak, 10 years old, stood in front of his father. His wings seemed too big for his body, his briefcase still clutched in his hands. There are a few other angels around him, all older, talking to their assigned superior. He glanced up at his father, tightening his grip slightly.

“So. Riz. Repeat your mission.”

“I have to make friends with the kid I get sent down to. I have to be a guardian and protect his integrity and honesty.” Riz’s eyes darted around, nervously. “A guardian angel, right?”

Pok nodded, trying to keep tears from slipping past the corners of his eyes. “This is the best I could do for you, Riz. I’m… I’m so proud of you, kid. Just remember you can come back up here at any time, okay?” He ruffled Riz’s hair, smiling a little. “Good luck down there.”

-

Fabian Aramaris Seacaster, son of Bill Seacaster, sits on the end of his bed. In front of him is a strange, sparkling apparition of a young boy with wings, currently with his hands raised in defence of a toy sword pointed at his face.

“Begone from my house, ghost!” His voice is slightly higher pitched than you would expect, but his frown more than makes up for how not intimidating it is.

“I’m not a ghost!” The slightly-translucent goblin carefully moves the blunt plastic blade out of his face. “Technically, I’m an angel. That’s what my dad told me.”

Fabian scoffs. “Well, I’m gonna be a pirate, like my dad. That’s way cooler than being an angel.” He blinked, and realised what he was doing. “Wait, you can’t be real. Angels aren’t even a thing.”

Riz sighs, and floats up and flicks the boy in the forehead. “No way, I’m super real. You’re Fabian, right?” 

The taller boy nods. “Fabian Aramais Seacaster, son of Bill Seacaster, the greatest pirate to ever live!”

“I’m just gonna call you Fabian. You can call me Riz.” He seemed to remember something, and quickly settled back down onto his feet and stood to attention. 

“Fabian, I am Riz Gukgak, temporary hire for the Interdimensional Department of Celestial Guardians, and I am your Guardian Angel. Technically, I can’t tell you any knowledge of the afterlife, I am just here to be your friend and provide guidance you may not be getting from your current peers.”

Fabian stared at him. Riz stared back, uncomfortably. He really hoped the speech hadn’t been lost on the 11 year old; he’d spent an hour and a half trying to memorise the whole thing. 

“Are you the invisible man that threw my bloodrush ball back over the fence?”

“W-what?”

“The other day, I lost my bloodrush ball. I was too good at playing and it went over the fence.” Fabian crossed his arms. “When it came back over, there was nobody there. Either you threw it, or…” His eyes widened. “Or you _were_ the ball!”

“I can’t explain to you just how wrong you are.” Riz settled into a cross-legged position just above the floor, wings flicking out slightly. “I was not the ball, and I think perhaps it was just someone you didn’t see.”

“I see everyone. I’m fantastic.” Fabian scoffed, and Riz frowned. “Well, I am! Or I will be. I’m going to be a super cool pirate. I have a sword.” He pointed with the plastic sword at Riz’s face again, in defiance. “So there.” 

Riz pulled the sword away quickly, and flew up a little out of the young boy's reach, examining it. “It isn’t very sturdy. Clearly you play with this often, though. How many times has it broken?” As he was talking, a small piece of the hilt fell off towards the ground. “Ah. Oops.”

Fabian, from where he had been trying to jump off his bed to reach the angel, let out a gasp. “You broke it! I’m gonna tell my papa!” He pouted for a second at the broken piece, then his face relaxed. “Wait, that’s supposed to happen. The hilt has a secret compartment… Don’t look in there!” 

Riz, who already had an eye held up to the small hole, looked down at him. “Why not? Okay, wait, hold on.” He fluttered down, and handed the sword back. “Sorry. I like looking at things.” 

“Well, stop looking at _my_ things!” Fabian screwed the end of the hilt back on, and looked around. “If you’re sticking around, maybe you can look at some of my things. Like, um…” His face perked up. “I can show you the crows nest! I don’t get to show many people the crows nest.” He rushed out the room, and Riz beamed. 

Clearly, this was going to go extremely well.

-

Fabian wishes he hadn’t told his father. He wishes he’d remembered not to talk to Riz out loud. But, y’know, he’s 13. You forget these things.

Kids at school were talking about it, how he’d talk to himself. It wasn’t like he’d been friends with any of them, anyway, but it still hurt knowing they were laughing at him.

Telling his papa had been a huge mistake, of course. Bill Seacaster was convinced his son needed to go to therapy, or maybe take a trip on the ocean seas to clear his head. The idea that Fabian had an imaginary friend who talked back and put ideas of honesty and humility into his head was too outlandish, and Fabian had very quickly realised that if he wanted to stay in Elmville, he had to stop talking about Riz. 

It was for this reason, that when Riz appeared as he usually does at 6pm that night, Fabian was sitting with his back to him playing crystal games. 

“Today was rough, huh, Fabian?” Riz sat himself down next to Fabian, but was instantly met with the half-elf turning his back to him. “That’s okay. If you don’t want to talk tonight, I’ll still be here tomorrow.”

Fabian mumbled something, quietly. Riz blinked, confused.

“I didn’t hear that.”

“You shouldn’t be. You’re not real. You need to go.”

There was only silence, after that. Fabian brought himself to turn around after about 5 minutes, and found himself alone.

That shouldn’t be a surprise. Of course he was alone, because Riz wasn’t real.

He quietly sat up, and carried on playing crystal games.

Still sitting on the bed, invisible, a small goblin angel ignored the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes, trying to think about how the angels had said to handle this.

_“If he needs it, give him space. It’s up to you how much space you give him, but sometimes he might just want to be left alone.”_

Well, that was fine. If Fabian wanted to be alone, Riz could leave him alone. He’d be back if Fabian needed him. 

Riz blinked down at his hands, and allowed himself to fade from Fabian, just a little. 

This would only be for a while.

-

Three years later, Fabian Seacaster has his first day at Aguefort Adventuring Academy. 

He punches the first guy he sees, and immediately gets detention. He is too good at sports, and gets detention _again._

He goes to detention, hears a scream, and takes off running.

It is halfway through the fight when he sees a small glimmer of light near this freaky corn-glob’s… he won’t say it. But _near_ it. And then a small piece of paper gets pulled into the air and falls to the ground. 

Two of the other detention kids die, albeit briefly. The weirdest thing Fabian’s ever seen happens; who knew that a murder-suicide could beat a tornado coming to each of his birthday parties? 

As he’s about to follow the Vice Principal out of the cafeteria, however, he feels a sharp tug to the side of the doorway and he’s pushed under a table. But there’s nobody else in here, so…

He blinks. Then blinks again. The glowing, golden outline of a winged goblin blinks back, his expression serious.

“You gotta keep an eye on the crime scene. We can’t trust the faculty.”

Fabian swings, for the second time today, as hard as he fucking can at a stranger’s body.


	2. introductions and re-introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> kristen casts detect good and evil, and riz meets the hangman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trying to remember how the hell to use this site bear with me. anyway enjoy chapter 2!

Fabian sprints down the hallway after the others, panicking more than he will let himself show. The hurried voice next to him was making it very hard to not lose it, though.

“Fabian, seriously, you can’t leave the crime scene! What if someone messes with it? Come on, Fabian, listen to me!” The fluttering wings next to him slowed and settled as Riz dropped into a walk. “At least look at me!”

“We… I am in public, you are not real. I am not going to talk to the air at _school,_ Ri- Nothing. Nobody.” Fabian stared determinedly at the other kid’s backs. “You are not real. I imagined you.”

A low, frustrated hiss came from his side. “I let you believe you imagined me because I thought it would help you. Clearly, I was wrong. Now, there’s a serious situation here, and you are _going_ to need my help!” Riz stood in front of him, arms crossed. “What will it take to make you believe I’m real?”

Fabian walked through him, and the angel shattered into fractals and then reformed to his side, like a movie rewinding. Fabian pressed his eyes shut. “I’ve had a long day,” He muttered, “I watched four people die and now I am hallucinating. I’m going to go home and calm down.”

Next to him, Riz sighed. “I’ll try talking to you again later. Keep up with your new friends.” A strange noise, almost like glass, sounded, then there was silence.

Fabian opened his eyes, alone in the hallway. Quietly muttering a curse, he rushed off to where he could hear Fig talking loudly in the distance.

-

His room was too large and too quiet, he decided. Fabian had always been a little lonely, but especially tonight the tall ceiling seemed to expand farther than it was supposed to. A soft ping on his crystal from the new kid he had met, Gorgug, indicated that Fabian’s online presence had made it all too easy for them to find his social media. 

Fabian sat down on his large desk chair, dropping his bag to the side, and put his head in his hands. Today had been all too much, which he decided was only partially his own fault for punching Gorgug. Clearly, he hadn’t actually anticipated what watching someone die would feel like. Wasn’t it supposed to feel glorious, taking the life of another? Not… whatever this sick feeling in his stomach was. He felt like he wanted to cry, but that was ridiculous.

“Are you ready to talk now?”

He shrieked, falling over backwards off his desk chair, as the accusatory voice sounded like it was directly behind his head. 

“I decided to not appear physically just yet. You know that punching me hurts? It hurts, Fabian. You punched an angel. That’s just mean.”

“What the fuck?!” He exclaimed, spinning around. “Okay, if this is some sick joke that the tiefling girl is pulling, it’s not funny!” 

“Her name was Fig.” Riz materialised a little distance from him, wincing as Fabian yelled again in surprise. “Stop that, it hurts.” 

Fabian glared at the apparition, hand on the hilt of his rapier. “Are you… Are you actually real? The Ball was real?”

Riz started. “Seriously? It’s been three years, and you still insist on calling me that?” A small smile creeped onto his face. “You better give those other kids their own nicknames.”

“I might. Maybe.” He carefully walked around the winged goblin, trying to put himself in a more advantageous position. “How are you real? I imagined you.”

“I made you forget me. I figured if you didn’t want to leave Elmville, it would be best for you if I wasn’t around.” Riz shrugged.

Fabian furrowed his brow. He couldn’t fully remember everything, but he had figured the vague memory of a goblin friend had been made up. Gradually, though, the situation he now found himself in was becoming more familiar. 

“So, what, you just, you left?” He asked, frowning a little at the apparition. “Did heaven stop paying you to care about me, or something?”

Riz’s eyes widened. “No, nothing like that. In my defense, I was eleven. I didn’t exactly have the, the best grasp of the situation.” His face turned serious. “I came back for a very good reason, though. I think. There’s a mystery. One of the faculty...”

Fabian still wasn’t processing this. No way he was understanding all of this in just five minutes. He sat down on the bed, breathing heavily. 

“This… is… ridiculous.” His hands were shaking again, like they had as he watched the principal and guidance counsellor drop to the ground. “Papa said it would be glorious. Fight to win…” 

Riz stopped his rant, turning to look at him. “Your papa…? Fabian, try to calm down. We need to talk about this page in the corn.”

“The page, are you kidding?!” Fabian whipped his head up to glare at his guardian. “I watched those kids die! The principal killed another teacher and then himself! Were you there for that? Or do you just care that there’s a reason for you to insert yourself back into my life?” He wrapped his arms tightly across his chest. “You’re already dead. You know what it’s like.”

Of course that was the wrong thing to say, of course it was. Fabian knew it as he said it. But watching as the room glowed brighter and brighter, he more felt the wrongness of his statement than anything.

“You really haven’t changed.” Fractals of an image reformed before Fabian’s eyes, and Riz stood in front of him, arms crossed. The golden light appeared to be coming from his eyes, strangely. “I’ll stick around to help with the mystery. If you still want me to leave after that, then I will.”

Fabian nodded shortly, ignoring the pain in his chest, probably some injury from today's battle. “That sounds fine to me, The Ball.”

-

Riz had been following him around constantly, the next day. He hadn’t said anything, just pointed towards clues, and not looked Fabian in the eye. It was, to put it simply, excruciating. He wished the angel would at least give him some theories, or something.

He and the other Bad Kids (as Kristen had affectionately named their new party) were sat in an empty classroom after Fabian and Fig had talked to Penelope Everpetal (who Riz had frowned and pointed at, determinedly, when she mentioned some halfling girl), discussing heading to some garage by the interstate. 

“Real quick, Kristen,” Fabian interrupted, “There were angels in heaven, right? When you died, I mean.” 

Adaine muttered “Tactless,” and Gorgug made a sound like he was crying, but Kristen nodded. 

“There were a couple near the gates, in the sky, all over. Why?” Her eyes brightened. “Are you thinking of converting?” 

“No, no, no no no no.” Fabian waved his hands dismissively, ignoring how Riz was staring at him for the first time today. “Nothing like that. No. Never.” 

“Why are you asking, then?” Fig leaned forwards on her elbows. “Gotta have a reason.”

Fabian hesitated, seeing everyone’s eyes now on him. “I… There’s, um. So, don’t think I’m hallucinating, or anything. I have a.” He gestured vaguely in Riz’s direction. “An… angel guy.” 

There was a moment as the four other teens looked at the empty space, then back at Fabian.

“What do you mean, an ‘angel guy’?” Adaine asked. Kristen frowned, and began casting a spell.

Riz sat on the table, frowning. “Why are you telling them?” He whispered, almost sadly, but was interrupted by an exclamation behind him.

“Guys, there’s some sort of celestial in the room!” Kristen shouted, excitedly, waving her bible. “Fabian could be chosen, too! Maybe it’s a sign!”

“No, that’s my, uh, guy.” Fabian muttered. “The Ball, move, please. Get off there.”

Startled by the fact that Fabian was talking to him in front of other people, he slid off the surface and stood next to him. “They won’t be able to see me. Or hear me.”

“I know.” Fabian said quietly, then looked up, raising his voice. “He is very good at mysteries. He might also be able to help.”

“Is there a ghost in here?” Gorgug asked, glancing around. “I don’t want to deal with a ghost.”

“He’s not a ghost, he’s a guardian.” He turned to Kristen before she could say anything. “He’s not from the Helioic religion, either, Kristen. Sorry.” 

“So, what is it?” Fig frowned, crossing her arms. “Am I safe to be in a room with you? Is it going to smite me for being a demon?”

“No?” Fabian looked cautiously at Riz. “You’re not, right?”

Riz just stared at him, floated over to Fig, and put his hand right through her face. It appeared to shatter like a plane of glass up to the wrist, then mended itself when he pulled it back.

Fabian nodded. “He’s not. He also can’t.” Fig sat down, seemingly satisfied, and Riz tried poking her face again.

“I wish this worked.” He continued moving his hand around Fig’s head, watching it break apart around her. 

“Riz, stop, it looks so weird.”

Adaine cocked her head. “So his name is Riz?”

“Riz Gukgak. He’s an angel. I met him when I was nine.” Fabian shrugged. “I figured I should tell you guys about him if we’re going to be working together.” Riz glared at him, and Fabian quickly amended himself. “Friends, I mean.” 

“Gukgak?” Adaine muttered, but Kristen interrupted her. 

“Wait, so you just had a guardian angel this whole time and didn’t tell us?” 

“That is literally the point of telling you now. That is, literally, I didn’t tell you yesterday because I had just met you.” He glanced at Riz who was now walking through Fig, his image scattering and reforming. “He also only just reappeared yesterday to help. He assumed we needed it.”

Adaine frowned, and kept silent. Fabian suspected she could tell that wasn’t the whole story, but there was no way he was elaborating on it to these, let's face it, _strangers_ right now.

Hopefully, this would at least go a step to making it up to Riz.

-

The fight on the road had been _intense_. Fabian was pretty proud of himself for shooting down Johnny Spells, and was extremely curious about this bike that he had been riding. Riz, however, was shaking his head frantically.

“It’s bad. Bad news. Don’t do it, Fabian.” Fabian looked him in the eye, and got on the bike. “No. No. Fabian. It’s like, alive, man, don’t ride it.” 

Both of them jumped as a voice entered, unbidden, into both of their ears. 

_“I have walked through endless nights, strolled through midnight forests, the aching worlds of eternity beyond dimensions of madness have been my dwelling place. Who now strides my custom leather seat?”_

Riz stared at the bike, then back at Fabian. Fabian looked down at the handlebars, and grinned.

“My name is Fabian Aramais Seacaster, son of Bill Seacaster. I have finished off your former master, and now you belong to me.” Fabian declared, and saw Riz put a hand to his face.

“Fabian, this is a terrible plan.”

_“Master, what is that.”_ A disgruntled rumble came from the engine.

“What is what? The Ball? Can you see The Ball?” Fabian swung around to look at the skull of the bike, suddenly tense.

_“The celestial you call ‘The Ball’ is now visible to me in the most disgusting sense of the word. Why does he follow you.”_

“I follow him because that’s my job!” Riz protested. “He’s my friend!”

_“Is he your job, or your friend, celestial?”_

Riz stopped moving. Fabian glanced up, frowning, ignoring the churning anxiety in his stomach. “The Ball, don’t listen to him. Bike, be cool. Both of you need to get along, since the Bike now belongs to me, and The Ball cannot leave my side, literally.”

_“Hrmmm. I refuse to get along with this Ball.”_

Riz glared at it, and sighed. “I can fly alongside the bike. It’s not like I even need to ride it.” He glanced over at the others as the young halfling family pulled up to the wreckage scene. “Let’s just get back to the others.” 

Fabian’s brow furrowed, but he steered the bike in the direction of the van and rode back over to his friends. He’d talk with Riz about this later.

-

“Fabian, is Riz here?”

The library was a comfortable, warm temperature. Fabian started awake from where he had been resting on a pile of work, sunlight catching his eyes, and squinted up at Adaine. “He’s always here. Do you need him for something?”

The high elf nodded, and showed him her crystal screen. “The name Gukgak was familiar, and it turns out there’s a goblin woman who’s a captain at the police department. Could Riz be related to her?”

Riz, who had been staying invisible to Fabian until that point, popped into view, directly next to Adaine, and swiped at the phone. “You can’t make me go see her. I’m not going. The others can, but I’m not going.” There was a strange edge to the young boy’s voice that Fabian couldn’t pinpoint.

“The Ball, is that your mom?” Fabian squinted at the goblin, but paused when he saw the panic on Riz’s face. “Oh, no. The Ball, try to calm down, we don’t have to see her if you don’t want to.”

“What’s he saying?” Adaine asked. “Could she help us, or not?”

“She… she could, um.” Riz’s eyes started glowing, slightly. “She’s good. She can help. I’m not going.”

Fabian inhaled, and nodded. “Okay. You don’t have to go, The Ball.” He turned to Adaine. “She’s trustworthy, but I can’t go with you.”

Adaine frowned. “Okay, but is he related to her? Surely she’d want to know if her dead relative was still able to be contacted.” 

“He says he can’t.” Fabian thought, hard. “I’m guessing it would suck to be able to see but not talk to someone you knew when you were alive?”

Riz, next to him, let out a quiet hiss, then shattered into nothing. Fabian looked around, waiting for him to reform, but nothing happened. “The Ball, where did you go?”

There was only silence. Adaine shuffled her feet. 

“Did I make him mad?” She asked, but Fabian shook his head.

“Probably not. Being a dead guy probably isn’t great.” He shrugged, and pulled up a book from the pile next to him. “Now, am I going to have to read this myself, or can I pass this book about magic to you?”

Adaine smiled, wryly, and sat herself opposite Fabian. “I’ll help you this time, but don’t expect this often.”

He grinned back, leaning casually against his chair. “Yeah, sure.” 

Riz was probably fine. For now, he could work with Adaine to solve this mystery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i read every one of ur comments and theyre all SO sweet thank you!!! 
> 
> if this was a little messy i apologise. i hope you enjoyed anyway!


	3. thoughts in the void

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> riz takes his time thinking in his room, the black pit begins to rage, and fabian says the wrong thing. again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thought id throw some *kicks* EXPOSITION in there
> 
> if you wanna yell at me about this au come follow me @bisexualriz/@candylestrade on twitter, or @houstonspies/@candylestade on tumblr!

Riz couldn’t get back to his father.

He’d learnt this three years ago, when Fabian told him to leave. He’d attempted to get back to the celestial planes, but encountered some sort of block. It had led to a breakdown, at the time, but thankfully he had now accepted that he was stuck here, without freaking out about it every few minutes.

He remembered being told that his death had been an anomaly, which might be why he wasn’t able to get back now. Riz didn’t exactly have any other place to go, which was why he was now floating in a strange, dark limbo he had found.

Of course he wanted to see his mom.

The empty expanse seemed to laugh at him.

_She wouldn’t be able to see you. You can’t even talk to her._

Riz wrapped his wings around himself, floating alone in the darkness. He wanted to see his mom so, so badly. Would that make this feel better? He hadn’t seen his mom since he was nine years old, when he had… well. When he saw his dad.

That had been a shock. He had no idea anything was wrong, at first, until he saw the halo behind his father, and the other angels, and his own wings. He tightened them around himself, now, holding tears back.

Maybe seeing Sklonda would help, but he didn’t really care about the after. He was more concerned with how they would tell her that her son, while still conscious, was 100% dead, and would never be able to talk to her again. He couldn’t even hug her, if he did see her.

When was the last time he hugged his mother?

“What do I do…?” He whispered, voice hoarse. “I wish you were here, Dad.” 

The emptiness brought nothing back. The dark sky around him looked almost like stained glass, in deep blues and purples, fractured with white cracks. There were no stars, yet, but he wasn’t scared. He had been scared when he first found this little between-place, but now that he was older, it was almost comforting. 

Being dead was still a horrifying concept to him. When he first saw his wings, all orange and beige and yellow, with a strange glass mosaic-like pattern, he almost screamed. It had only been the presence of his father that had calmed him down in the worst of those moments.

Having been unable to talk to him since those few months he spent in the celestial planes, Riz had to wonder if his father had any insight into what was happening at the school. It was unlikely, since Pok never would have worked with the police on abduction cases, he had been a clerk, or something, but maybe angels had more of an insight into that sort of thing?

_If that’s true, then why have you been entirely useless?_

“I haven’t been useless.” He muttered.

The space he was in reformed into the vague outline of a bedroom, and he walked over to the bed and sat down on it. Manipulating how this void looked had become almost second nature to Riz, now, but the appearance every time was shining in purples, golds and bright silver colors. It was almost like looking at a glass room, the way the light reflected through the objects he conjured. 

Carefully, he waved his hand, bringing the image of a small briefcase into his arms, and sighed. He couldn’t help hating this room; he had spent three years of his life here. He couldn’t tell Fabian, obviously. His job is to help him, not burden him with the fact that he was the reason Riz had spent years alone, unable to get home, and unable to get back to the celestial planes. It was hardly his fault Riz was assigned to him. It wasn’t his fault Riz had died.

_“Is he your job, or your friend, celestial?”_

Riz grimaced. He’s Fabian’s friend, obviously, by default. Best friend, if that was the case. Then again, he did meet the others. Kristen, Gorgug, Adaine and Fig. 

They seemed cool. Kristen was even able to sense him, and Adaine (being a wizard) could even find a spell she could use to talk to him. That would be fun.

The only issue was, Riz still had no idea why Fabian had told them about him. He was unlikely to actually be of any use, and he couldn’t even get unique intel from ‘up top’. 

A frown made its way across his face. No, that was stupid. He could definitely help. He can get into higher places than the others, and find higher-up clues. He had wings. That was useful. He could also get around places without being seen to eavesdrop, so long as Fabian was nearby.

(He was also probably smarter than some of the others, but he’d never admit that out loud.)

He stood back up, and gripped the briefcase until it became a more solid color, like the rest of his body. Completely against his will, a golden ‘T.B.’ made its way onto the front of it.

“Okay… I need to get Fabian to drop that nickname.” Riz smiled a little, and dismissed the room, watching it scatter back into smaller and smaller shards of ethereal glass, until the room was gone entirely.

-

Fabian was in a bad mood. Fig absolutely hated it.

Apparently, his angel friend had vanished about three hours ago, and hadn’t come back. He’d missed meeting this Biz guy (and honestly, she wished she’d missed that, too), and now they were all standing around the Black Pit while Kristen talked to some girl, and Fabian was sulking in a corner. This sucked. 

“Should we do something about that?” Gorgug half-shouted, jerking his head towards where the half-elf was standing with his arms crossed. 

“Eh, we’ll do something later.” Fig tilted her head, and dug her crystal out of her pocket. “Keep an eye on people’s pockets, I’m gonna try something.” She hurriedly sent a text to the number on the burner phone, and glanced around the back room. 

Gorgug tugged on her sleeve, at the same time that Fig noticed Fabian looking up, startled, at an empty space next to him. 

“Zayn’s here. His pocket, look.” Gorgug hissed, and Fig turned to see, just as she heard the music change, and people all around them started to warp and shudder.

“If they want a mosh pit, they’ll get one!” She declared, pulling her bass around to the front. “Let’s go, Gorgug!” And with that, Fig charged away from him, into the fray.

-

“The Ball, you really have the _worst_ timing!”

Fabian scrambled his way across the room, hearing the screams from within the depths of the Black Pit, desperately hoping that wasn’t one of his party members.

“To be honest, Fabian, that’s not exactly my fault!” Riz shouted back at him, standing up on top of the bar and scanning the carnage before him. “Okay, the DJ appears to be the one controlling people, you need to take the music out. If you can get me to the back room, I might be able to do something to the DJ, he looks undead.”

Fabian nodded, spotting the glass window that had a view of the next room, and grinned. “I have a fantastic idea, The Ball!” He yelled to the angel, and started to sprint towards it. Riz’s eyes widened with horror.

“Fabian, what the _fuck!”_ He heard Riz shriek, but he was already crashing through the pane glass, feeling none of the usual scratches and scrapes that should be across his body, simply from how fucking _cool_ that was. He hoped Riz thought it had been cool.

Spotting the crowd, but not the DJ, Fabian vaulted behind the bar to avoid further attacks, and turned to Riz, who had blended weirdly with a few of the glass shards. “That was rad as hell, The Ball, did you see that!” Fabian was grinning wildly, but Riz looked more panicked than anything.

“Yes, okay, that was super tight, Fabian. The DJ is a little ways from the bar; I need you to get me a clear shot, I can’t mess with the mortals, but I might be able to do something to the undead!” He started fumbling with a briefcase Fabian didn’t recognise, and pulled out a shining arquebus. Fabian’s eyes widened.

“Where did you even get that?!” He exclaimed, but Riz was already tugging on his arm to move. Fabian jumped back in front of the bar, and sprinted to the middle of the room to see, honestly, a terrifying sight.

A group of zombies were gathered around like a pack, tearing at some figure some distance from the stage, who Fabian realised with horror was Gorgug. Thankfully, with a yell that seemed to come from the deepest pit of Gorgug’s stomach, he shrugged off the attacks and bared his teeth. Behind him, Fig let out a joyful cackle, and Fabian allowed himself a small smile.

“Okay, okay, okay, I hope this works.” Riz darted forwards with his eyes scanning the DJ, as close as he could get to the stage, and pulled up his gun. “If it doesn’t, it’s probably at least going to look impressive!” His wings unfurled, steadying himself, and he fired.

A star-blasted dart of light shot out from the end of the arquebus, streaking towards the zombie stood at the DJ booth, then burst into hundreds of pieces of purple and golden glass that struck the creature in the chest, staggering him backwards. Riz blinked, then his jaw dropped open.

“Holy shit, that fucking worked!” He spun around to Fabian, a look of euphoria on his face. “It worked, I hit him! Fabian, I actually…” Riz clutched the gun to his chest, beaming from ear to ear. “I can actually do shit!” 

Fabian, startled as the rest as the bar had been by this fractal bullet appearing from nowhere, watches as Gorgug beheads another zombie, and lobs a handaxe at an amp. 

“Excellent, Riz, well done, now, let’s move!” Fabian shouted, completely forgetting the nickname, and readied his crossbow for the next attack, feeling more confident than he had in days.

-

The back alleys fill with the sound of pounding footsteps as the Bad Kids sprint away from the Black Pit, out of breath and doing the best they can to avoid the sirens of the approaching police. Riz was still holding his gun tightly in his arms, flying a little ways above the others, and keeping Fabian in his sight. 

Gradually, they came to a stop a good distance from the commotion, and paused to catch their breath. Fig immediately turned to stare at Fabian, eyes wide.

“What the hell was that light bullet, Fabian?! It even killed DJ Brainzz!” She exclaimed, glaring him down. “It would have been useful to know you had that in your arsenal beforehand!”

“That was The Ball!” Fabian protested, putting his hands up. “I didn’t know he could do that, either!”

Riz settled on top of a wall just next to the group. “It’s an arquebus. I can’t do much to protect my, uh, friend, but my dad told me I should be able to attack any undead that threatens him.” Fabian explained that to the others, who immediately began discussing the possibilities of this. Riz looked over at Fabian, who was grinning nervously back at him.

“What now? Should we, like…” He waved his hand vaguely, “Go somewhere? Someone’s house or something? Who’s closest?”

“Your house is literally, so close to here, Fabian.” Riz whispered.

“You don’t- augh, you don’t have to whisper, I’m the only person who can hear you, The Ball,” Fabian pushed the angel away from his head, frustrated, “But yes, I do live very close to here, actually. I suppose.”

“Can we go to your house, then?” Gorgug asked, leaning forward slightly.

“Well, I think we could always listen to where everyone else lives?” He protested, but was drowned out by everyone’s excited agreement to Gorgug’s suggestion. “Alright, fine, we can go to my house. Just try not to track blood or barf or anything into the carpet.”

-

The next evening, Fabian collapsed on his bed, exhausted. His father really didn’t understand the point of taking rests during training; and he’d just gotten back from riding the newly-painted Hangman, much to Riz’s disapproval. Riz had laid himself down next to him, wings carefully tucked around himself so they didn’t poke Fabian. 

“That was so much training. Your dad hasn’t changed at all, really.” He mused, pulling a small fidget toy out of his briefcase. “Kind of glad I didn’t have to deal with that myself.”

“Yeah,” Fabian nodded, “Though, we could definitely plan later how you can help during battles. I just… didn’t want to bring you up to Papa again.” 

Riz laughed a little. “Yeah, that didn’t go great last time, huh?” He rolled over, awkwardly shifting his wing underneath him, and glanced at Fabian. “You look like shit.”

“Rude!” He exclaimed, turning to laugh at his friend, and met his eyes. Fabian squinted at him. “Hey, you don’t look much better. Do angels even sleep?”

“Yeah, angels sleep. I usually go to my room for it, though.” Riz yawned, sitting up a little on his elbows. “I tend not to sleep much, recently. I made a clue board there.”

“You have a room? You can, like, go up to heaven, or whatever?” Fabian asked. “Is it true that Helio is a jerk?” Riz didn’t respond, still staring at him. Fabian waited for a few seconds. “The Ball? Does Helio suck even more than we thought?”

“Yeah, I guess Helio sucks, probably. I wouldn’t know.” Riz said, shortly. He fully sat back up, and got off the bed. “My room isn’t in heaven. I can’t get back there. Haven’t been able to. Whatever.” He spread his wings, and flew up to a jutting out wooden plank above the window, his back turned.

Fabian stood up, looking up at him. “You can’t get back? So where did you even go? Y’know, when I… When I said to leave.” Riz brought his wings around himself.

“I was here, invisible, sometimes. Mostly just in my pocket dimension room.” His voice was muffled, the clicking of the fidget toy increasing. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t worry about… The Ball, are you kidding? Why didn’t you tell me, I…” Fabian paused, realising what that implied. “Oh.”

The silence stretched, the quiet taps of the fidget toy Riz had summoned being the only sound to fill the room. Fabian sat back down, thinking.

“You were alone, then?” He eventually asked. He heard Riz sigh, and the tell-tale shattering sound that morphed to his side as Riz reappeared next to him.

“Yeah. I mean, I hung around you invisible a bit. But mostly I was trying to sleep, or thinking up mystery cases in my room.” Riz gave a hollow laugh. “Guess that’s gonna come in useful, now.”

Fabian frowned. Obviously, it wasn’t his fault that Riz had been alone for… what, three years? He was a kid, he hadn’t known any better. Still… this knowledge didn’t exactly make him feel _great._

“Listen, The Ball, I’m very, uh, sorry about that. I have also not had many ‘friends’ until, this year, I suppose.” Fabian admitted, leaning back on his hands. “Mostly it was kids from my middle school who pretended to care so they could get at my money, and you were only here because you had to be.”

“I… what? Fabian, just because I was assigned to you, doesn’t mean I don’t consider you my friend. Do you not…?” Riz started to ask, then stopped. “Never mind. That’s dumb. I’m definitely your friend.” He seemed to mutter the last part to himself, more than to Fabian.

“Yes, of course,” Fabian waved his hand dismissively, “Now, don’t go slinking off into that little… what, pocket dimension of yours? That sounds honestly quite sad. We’re having a sleepover.”

Riz’s ears perked up. “A sleepover? We used to have those.” He smiled a little, and Fabian felt his heart jump slightly. “You actually remember that?”

Fabian scoffed, grinning ear to ear. “Certainly. Really, The Ball, it was only, what, three? Four years ago? I have a fantastic memory.”

Riz shook his wing out to slap Fabian in the back of the head, laughing. “Sure, sure you do. Go get snacks, or something, then. We can make a proper blanket fort, even!”

“A blanket fort? The Ball, we’re, what, sixteen?”

“I’m fourteen.”

Fabian shrugged. “Whatever, we’re both too old for blanket forts. I’ll get snacks, we’ll watch a movie, it’ll be a good time!”

His friend hovered up, slightly, and set himself back down on his feet, wings tucking behind him. “Alright, sure. I have no idea what movies are good, so you have to pick. Please pick one that’s good.”

“The Ball, I have exquisite taste in movies!” Fabian protested, heading towards the door. “Also, you need to be quiet now.”

Riz nodded, stifling another laugh, and vanished as Fabian exited the room to prepare for the sleepover. Yes, this would definitely be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> exposition babey. i hope this explains some more things abt this au! might be a little bit until the next chapter but im workin on it


	4. devils and rats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fig creates the worlds worst illusion, Adaine finds a very useful spell, and Riz works on his several case boards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shorter chapter, ohhhhhh god help me writing canon compliant is so hard. which scenes do i include. which battles. i am so tired and writing is DIFFICULT
> 
> on another note, i love this au so i am going to keep writing this. if pacing seems weird these past two chapters its because i am having a VERY HARD TIME WITH MY BRAIN! but i am keeping this thing going, lets get it gamers woo yeah angel au babey

It had been a strange day. The cafeteria had been rocked, literally, by Fig’s tremor, and Riz had laughed the whole way through the ordeal as he watched Fabian try to steal the first aid kit from the wall. It had been the highlight so far, and it was definitely a big improvement on whatever was going on now. Riz  _ hated _ what was going on now.

Half of the party was yelling in utter dismay, as Fig conjured what she called a ‘sexy rat’, in order to draw out Zayn, some goth kid they were trying to find. Riz, however, was painfully aware that his own grave was nearby. His dad’s, too, assuming they were buried next to each other. It was a sick churning in his stomach that told him that he was definitely not supposed to be here.

Fabian noticed Riz looking uncomfortable, forehead creasing slightly. “The Ball, please tell me you’re on my side about this freak of nature. That fucking thing should  _ not  _ exist.” He nudged Riz in the side with his elbow, grinning. 

Riz gave a half-smile back, anxious. “Yeah, totally, Fabian.” 

Fabian beamed back, then turned to Fig with a look of indignant righteousness. “The Ball agrees with me! You’re outvoted, Fig.”

“We weren’t voting!” Fig protested, then watched as the horrifying illusion was carried off by an owl. “Oh. Bummer.”

Adaine looked around, frowning. “Guys, there are a lot of owls. Cats, too.” She nodded to Kristen, who started casting a spell. 

“I think we had a cat once.” Riz muttered, thinking. “I can’t really remember, though. Maybe when I was very small.”

“You’re already small.” Fabian scoffed, then winced as Riz smacked him with one of his wings. “Ouch! Will you stop doing that?!”

As Kristen looked around at the watching animals, they all gradually vanished, either flying off or slinking back into the shadows, and the group went silent. 

“That was… unsettling.” Kristen mused, and Gorgug nodded.

“Many owls, out, tonight…”

The whole group jumped back, startled. Right in the middle of them stood a very tall, thin human man in a dark suit, looking around at them. 

“Fuck!” Fig exclaimed, whipping her bass around. Riz felt the strange, celestial tingling going down his arms. Fabian had his hand on the hilt of his sword.

“Welcome… to Cravencroft Cemetery… I am Sylvester, the caretaker of this graveyard. Why have you come here, to where the dead are laid to rest…?” The strange man's eyes seemed to widen, in just the weirdest, creepiest way. Riz hated it. 

“Have you seen a goth kid around here?” Fig asked, bluntly. Gorgug squinted at the man.

“Sorry, excuse me. Um, I know this is kind of weird to ask… It’s just on my mind.” The half-orc fiddled with his hands. “It’s kinda stupid.”

Riz glanced at Fabian. “Don’t stop him, I wanna see this.”

Gorgug leaned forward, conspiratorially. “Are you my freakin’ dad?” 

The whole group burst into noise, either laughter or confused exclamations. The caretaker leaned down, to look Gorgug directly in the eyes.

“Unfortunately, young man… It is impossible for me to have children… My junk is all messed up from a bicycle accident. Doctors still don’t know what’s happened there.”

Fig snorted, and Fabian winced. Kristen put a hand on her chin, thoughtfully.

“Kinda like, just every Tetris piece at once, then.” She said, matter-of-factly. She blinked at the looks of abject horror she received from the party. “What? It’s a simple question.”

Riz smiled, feeling himself almost forgetting his own dead body lay somewhere nearby. The sounds of conversation drifted over the graves, carried up the hill, into the night. 

-

So, Zayn Darkshadow was dead. That was fucked up.

Fabian really didn’t know how to feel about that. It was kind of like another lead was lost, but also, the guy was just dead? His apartment had been a wreck, too, and honestly quite sad. Did people really live in tiny rooms like that? Truly, truly unfortunate, and now he was dead! That sucked.

At this point, they were all piled into a car that he had called to head to this factory Zayn had, what, done rituals at? Weird. Weird kid. Weird, sad, and dead.

Fabian had  _ no _ idea how Riz was feeling about that. 

Fabian was feeling nothing about it, obviously. He killed people, killing was fine. Whatever.

Riz was currently sitting next to Fabian; the car was very large, one of those weird car interiors that looked almost like a sitting room; with his hands in his lap, with a large furrow in his brow like he got when he was thinking very hard. 

“Hey, The Ball.” Fabian whispered, as quiet as he could. “What are you thinking? Is this gonna be a battle, or what?”

“Probably.” He answered almost instantly, as though waiting for any noise at all. “Could be a battle, could be worse. Since Zayn’s house appeared to be the crime scene, I doubt we’re going to find his body there. He did some sort of ritual there, so maybe evidence of that will be there.” He didn’t make eye contact with Fabian, though. Just stared down at his hands.

“The Ball, you’re acting weird.” Fabian slouched back, nudging Riz’s arm. “Let’s just get there, first. What do detectives say? Case the joint, or something like that.”

“Yeah, that’s the one.” Riz muttered, distantly. “Sorry, Fabian. The graveyard wasn’t fun for me.”

Fabian frowned, and started to ask what he meant, but the driver pulled up and stopped by the factory, talking about parties or whatever. He’d have to talk to Riz later.

-

Riz was glaring across the diner table at the devil that was claiming to be Fig’s father. Fabian didn’t really have anything against him, personally; the guy seemed nice enough, and he wasn’t going to judge someone’s father for their job and appearance. Riz, however, seemed to not trust him at all.

“The Ball, cool it.” He hissed towards the angel, but was met with Riz… ignoring him? Weird.

“So, uh… I know that you kids have been through a lot. I totally do understand not wanting to talk to me about everything.” The devil, Gorthalax, was hunched into the booth, carefully tucking his wings behind himself. It reminded Fabian a little of how Riz would act, sometimes, although Gorthalax was much, much larger. “So, what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna go outside, have a quick smoke, and you guys can discuss amongst yourselves.”

Fabian watched as he left, feeling Riz shaking his shoulder. “I didn’t want to talk, I didn’t know if he could see me, that was so scary oh god.” The angel hardly breathed, his grip tightening. “He, he seemed okay but what if he hates angels? What if he could take my soul, Fabian?!”

“You need to calm down, The Ball, he seemed fine.” Fabian sighed, trying to pry Riz’s hand away. “Everyone, The Ball seems to be on the ‘don’t trust the devil’ side of the argument.” 

Adaine nodded, but Fig narrowed her eyes. “Oh, of course the angel would say that. Clearly, extremely unbiased.”

Gorgug, for his part, seemed unperturbed. “He sounds nice enough. He was even an angel, once, too.”

“Are you sure I can’t make him my new deity?” Kristen leaned forward on her elbows, glancing out the window at Gorthalax. “He honestly seems cool.”

“Ugh. Fabian. Fabian, tell them they’re all being ridiculous. I can’t smack Kristen, you do it.” Riz was anxiously sitting himself down on top of the table, while all the milkshakes sat completely undisturbed. Fabian nodded, and gently tapped Kristen in the head, to Riz’s disappointment. “Fabian! That was nothing! C’mon, dude!”

Kristen looked at him, confused, and Fabian shrugged. “The Ball said to do it. Well, he actually said to smack you, but I feared I might knock you out with my strength.”

The table started laughing, and Riz fluttered his wings slightly, smiling. “You’re all dumb. Ask Adaine if she has some way to talk to me, I want to tell her I agree.”

“Adaine, The Ball wants to know if you have some sort of spell you could use to communicate with him.” Fabian asked, turning to face her. She paused, thinking, before flipping through her spellbook.

“I might have something. It’s a second level spell, so it shouldn’t be too hard, but… ah!” Adaine exclaimed, reaching a certain page. “Hold on a moment!” 

Fabian watched Riz’s eyes widen, and he scrambled off the table. “She actually has something?! Oh, oh god, oh no.” 

Adaine finished waving her hands in the air, and glanced around. She gasped when her eyes landed on the space where Riz was standing, shocked. “I can see you! Is this, are you just normally invisible, or on the Ethereal Plane? Hold on, this is so interesting.” She frantically scribbled something down into a notepad, before Riz panicked and ducked behind the table.

“I was joking! I was joking, I didn’t think you’d be able to see me!” Adaine peered under the table, and Fabian laughed as Riz’s yellow eyes stared back at her. “Do I look weird? Fabian doesn’t exactly give me a straight answer when I ask him.”

“You look normal as an angel can look, I think?” Adaine replied, before Fabian waved his hand at her.

“As fantastic as this little introduction is, there are still three others at the table who cannot see or talk to The Ball.” He sighed, gesturing at Fig, Kristen and Gorgug. “Should we maybe try this at a later time?” 

“Yes, please, thank you.” Riz muttered, face flushed, before slipping through what looked like a crack in reality and vanishing. Adaine pouted.

“I used a whole spell on that,” She muttered, but Fabian patted her shoulder.

“He’ll be back. Now, what were we discussing?”

-

Riz was staring at the small clue board he’d put together regarding his own existence. Carefully, he pinned a small piece of paper with “See invisibility, ethereal plane (?)” scrawled on it onto his “Interaction with the living” column. 

That had been more of a surprise than he’d like to admit. He knew, of course, that he was probably on some plane directly parallel to the material one, but he had no idea it had been as simple as a second level spell to talk to one of the living. That was almost embarrassing, really. 

He quickly manifested a desk chair, and sat himself down in it. Wow. Okay. So there was a way to talk to Adaine, but it involved her using a spell, and there was still no way to talk to anyone else. Good to know. Alright.

There were approximately four things pinned there, now. The first one was simply a bit of paper that read, “Fabian Seacaster, best friend, only person I can talk to”. Another was written hastily, and had been done the second he had vanished from Fabian after the corn fight, and was “I can interact with  _ some objects?  _ What are the rules?!”. He still didn’t have an answer for that. The other paper, one written in shaky handwriting, read “Can definitely harm undead”. He’d already been told about that one, five years ago, but hadn’t really had a chance to test it until recently.

Riz stared at his other clue boards, frustrated. One was for the current case, and was piled with tons of information, none of it quite connecting where it seemed like it should. The other, with the words “My death” pinned to the middle, had nothing else on it. 

His gut twisted, feeling sickened by thinking about it again. There was, really, only one way he could find out anything more, and he hated it. He hated it so much.

Damn it, he had to tell Fabian to take him to see his mom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NEXT TIME ON FANTASY HIGH, coach daybreak sucks so bad at bloodrush! eat shit, idiot!


	5. the middleman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fabian delivers some gifts. Daybreak loses a game. Riz has a very bad day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was so hard to write. holy shit. enjoy and feel my pain as i do

Fabian was very frustrated. Lock-picking was way more difficult than he expected, and it was even harder when Riz was watching him do it with a smug grin on his face.

“Maybe try left five again.” Riz floated over to the other side, and peered at the dial on the locker. “Try the right three. Left. Left two. Right. Left, right--” 

“The Ball, shut up.” Fabian muttered, staring intently at the numbers. “You are so distracting.”

The two of them had arrived at school way earlier than either of them would like; Fabian had insisted on putting the gifts for their friends in their lockers, rather than directly giving it to them. He was regretting this decision, now, as he hadn’t anticipated just how hard it would be to break into their lockers.

“I’ve never been distracting in my life, Fabian.” Riz scoffed, sitting himself atop the row of lockers. “Nor in my death. Just get this over with before the others arrive.”

The lock finally clicked, and swung open. Fabian exhaled, and carefully placed the book on religion amongst the discarded Helio trinkets in Kristen’s locker. He replaced the lock, and started striding towards the cafeteria. Riz settled into pace alongside him, smiling.

“Honestly, I’m surprised you’re not telling them. That’s a little more selfless than I’ve come to expect from you.” Riz thought out loud, patting Fabian on the shoulder. “Good job. Well done.” 

“Do be quiet, The Ball. It’s a matter of principle.” Fabian hissed, pushing Riz’s hand away. “They’re less likely to just expect me to get them things, now.” 

Riz, to his credit, decided not to push the issue, continuing to walk alongside him down the hallway. Fabian stared straight ahead, determinedly not looking at him, and reached into his bag.

“I also got you something, The Ball.” He sighed, pulling a small book out. “I tried to make it a surprise, but I never know when you’re just hanging around invisible. It’s a detective novel,” He waved it about a bit, awkwardly, “And I can’t exactly give it to you, but I did also get a mystery movie for us to watch. I also thought I could read the book and you could read it next to me while I read it, or something.”

He could see Riz scrutinising him out of the corner of his eye. “That’s very… That’s nice, Fabian. Thank you.” There was a strange affectation to his voice that Fabian couldn’t pinpoint. “Not many people would think to give the dead kid a gift, so… Yeah. Uh, thanks.”

“Of course I’d get you a gift. It’s only unfortunate that we kind of automatically have to share it, but there truly isn’t much I can do about that.” Fabian sighed, pushing the book back into the depths of his satchel. “Money can, it appears, only get you so far--”

“Curious to see you at school so early, Mr Seacaster! Whom, exactly, might you be talking to?”

Fabian jumped, startled, and stared at the door that had opened to his left to see Vice Principal Goldenhoard. “Ah, uh, hello! I was simply eager to start my education, sir!” He quickly pushed his usual grin back up, and beamed at the dragonborn. “Just a little pep talk for myself, you see. It’s good for your self esteem.”

“...Right.” The red eyes narrowed, and Fabian was aware of Riz stepping behind him and putting a hand on his arm. Goldenhoard glanced down the corridor, and huffed. “Well, away with you. I have work to do, and you chattering to yourself in my halls is very loud, however beneficial it may be for you.”

“Of course, sorry,” Fabian quickly started backing down the hallway, waving a hand to him, “It won’t happen again! Goodbye!” 

Riz’s grip on his arm tightened as they hurried towards the cafeteria. “That was a scare. Don’t worry about responding, but maybe we should keep an eye on him.” Fabian nodded, slightly, and headed over to a table in the corner to wait for his friends. He didn’t completely understand Riz’s suspicion, but he hadn’t seen a reason to doubt him yet.

-

The fire and shouts soared across the Bloodrush field, Fabian sprinting down it, ball in hand. Riz, alongside him, had his arquebus pointed at the skeletons, taking shots at any who got too close, much to Coach Daybreak’s horror. Any delight Riz took in the terror on the man’s face was quickly weighed out by the fear he felt himself, staring into the Hellmouth gateway only a small distance from him.

There had been so, so many emotions that Riz had pushed deep down, when he died. His death was a case; the reason he couldn’t get back up to the celestial planes was a mystery he had to solve. Distance yourself from the case, follow the leads, and maybe you’ll get to the answer. Looking at this man who so believed he was destined for what Riz had, even briefly, and hating and fearing and killing others to feel that glory, Riz felt every single bit of anger within him boil up and bubble to the surface.

Fabian barrelled past the risen Bloodrush players, and dunked the ball into the case. Riz hadn’t even been paying attention; but now, it was hard to ignore the spite-filled whooping that filled the air as Fabian, too, let his emotions fully shine through the mask.

Riz watched as Fabian cheered, and gloated, and felt another emotion. Completely separate from the rage he felt towards Daybreak, he felt a tightening in his chest and a weightless sensation in his stomach, his head spinning. For a moment, he completely forgot he was on the Bloodrush field, and just watched in awe as his best friend allowed his composure to drop.

“Fabian!” Riz felt himself shouting down to him, unexpectedly. “That fucking ruled!” He turned back towards Daybreak, gun at the ready, and spread his wings.

-

  
  


Fabian was honestly, a little surprised at just how violent Riz had become during that battle. Of course, he hardly had held back himself; the brief impulse he’d felt to cut out the coach’s heart had been scary, but he’d then watched Riz aim his arquebus, shoot the coach in the head  _ multiple times,  _ and then…

He didn’t really know what happened. One moment Riz was there, face twisted into a furious grimace, then next he’d vanished. After about five minutes, he’d returned, but not before the other Bad Kids had watched Fabian panic to a level that was embarrassing. 

Currently, he and Riz were in Fabian’s room, Riz rambling about the evidence they had found in Daybreak’s apartment, pacing around (and through, which was very unsettling) the bed.

“So Zayn was being blackmailed by Daybreak. We have this list of cops that are involved with the Harvestmen, but…” Riz seemed to slow his pacing, frowning. He turned, quickly, and looked Fabian in the eye. “Fabian, I need to ask you something, and I need you to not overthink it or freak out.”

Fabian jolted; he’d already been internally freaking out a little bit at the amount of rage Riz had displayed the day before, but he nodded. “Certainly, The Ball.”

“I need you to visit my mom.” Riz’s face didn’t change, but there was a small edge to his voice. “She outranks all the people on the list. She could also help a lot with the case if she knows I’m helping you all. She may also know about the circumstances of my death.”

Frowning, Fabian stood up and walked over to the physical clue board that Riz had insisted he put up. “You said you couldn’t go see her. I’d assumed it would hurt too much, Riz.” He softened his voice, slightly, and put his hand on Riz’s shoulder. “I know this information is essential, though. We can send one of the other Bad Kids to deliver the list, if you like.”

Riz shook his head, expression neutral. “I think I need to do this. You will need to do all the communicating, though.” Fabian watched his face twitch, slightly.

“I can do that. I’m very, uh, sensitive. To people’s emotions.” Fabian nodded, still keeping his hand on Riz’s shoulder. “If you need to take a minute, though, just go into your… uh… fun little room, or whatever.”

“Sure,” Riz smiled, slightly, “I’ll do that.”

-

The hallway was cold, and his footsteps echoed as he had walked up the stairs. Fabian stood, now, staring at the apartment door apprehensively. Riz hovered nervously behind him, hand cautiously touched to Fabian’s shoulder. 

“She won’t even be able to see me. This is a dumb idea. I don’t know why I thought this was a good idea. She won’t even believe you.” More excuses kept tumbling out of Riz’s mouth, but Fabian ignored him, and knocked carefully on the wooden frame.

A few seconds later, it opened, and a very tired-looking goblin woman peered at him from inside the apartment. “Can I help you?”

Fabian heard the sharp intake of breath behind him, but ignored it as best he could, and stuck his hand out. “My name is Fabian Aramaias Seacaster. Are you Sklonda Gukgak?”

As she nodded, slowly shaking his hand as though he might electrocute her, a quiet, shaky whisper came from behind him.

“Mom…” 

Sklonda didn’t react. “That is my name, yes. Captain Gukgak, of the Elmville PD. Do you need something? If it’s police business, you should really go down to the station.”

Fabian shook his head, trying to pretend he couldn’t hear the quiet sob next to his shoulder. “I have some important information, and I also have to ask a question. I know your son, Riz?”

Sklonda’s face froze in place, and she looked to the side. “My son died five years ago. You couldn’t have known him.”

Realising the absurdity of what he was about to explain, Fabian paused. “I… I know. I’m so sorry.” He took a breath, holding his hand out behind him, feeling Riz take it and hold on tightly. “I have a rather complicated situation I need to explain to you.”

-

5 minutes later, Fabian was sitting awkwardly on the couch in Sklonda’s apartment, holding a mug of coffee. Riz was crouched next to him, invisible to his mother, who was sat on a chair opposite with her own mug.

“So, what is this complicated situation, Mr Seacaster?” Sklonda asked, curious. “Does it have to do with my son? I assure you, as far as I know his only friend was his babysitter. You’ll have to forgive my skepticism about you, but his classmates weren’t the kindest to him.”

“I understand, ma’am.” Fabian looked down into his mug. “And I’m aware that what I’m going to try and explain sounds ridiculous, but please listen.”

Sklonda frowned, and leaned forwards in her chair. “What do you mean?”

“So, first things first, this list is a lot of names of people that belong to the Harvestmen cult, including police officers.” He placed the file in her hands, and looked back up. “Also, angels exist and are real. One was my friend when I was younger, and is currently with me now.” Fabian was aware of Riz standing up next to him, and trying to place a shaky hand on his mothers arm. It went right through, reforming as it passed through her, and Fabian sighed before continuing.

“He reappeared recently, supposedly to assist me in a mystery surrounding the school I go to, and I agreed to him sticking around. This has led to us learning who he is, and…” Fabian inhaled, exhaled. “Who he was. Your son, I’m afraid, Captain Gukgak.”

The silence in the apartment was almost crushing to experience. Fabian gathered the courage to look back at Sklonda, only to see her hands trembling. 

“What are you… is this a joke?” A hoarse whisper came out. “Riz is, what, a ghost?”

“A, um. An angel, as I said.” Fabian recalled Riz’s speech. “Assigned to the Interdimensional Department of Celestial Guardians. He’s sort of my friend.” He glanced up at Riz, who had now put his hands around his mothers, trying to steady them. “My, uh... best friend.”

Sklonda took a shaky breath. “Is he… here? You keep looking at something. Is Riz here?” 

Fabian nodded, uncomfortable with being in the room for this. He was a stranger in what should have been a very private moment, but instead had to act as an odd middleman just for this woman to talk to her dead son. It took Fabian a moment to realise he was crying. 

“S-sorry. He can hear you, if you like. You can say whatever you want to him.” He noticed Sklonda’s wariness, and set his mug down. “I’ll plug my ears.”

“That’s-- Don’t. Don’t worry about it.” Sklonda shook her head, staring down at the file on the Harvestmen. “I don’t think I can do this, right now. I’m going to take this file, and I’m going to… clean shit up.” 

Fabian nodded, watching as Riz let out another sob. “That’s okay. I don’t think he can, either. I’m going to leave, now, but I’ll be back at some point. Thank you for the coffee.”

Sklonda stood up with him, and followed him to the door. “Alright. Don’t worry about the coffee, it’s just common hospitality.” She glanced around, one more time, as though looking for something. “Tell Riz he better be getting enough sleep.”

“I will.” Fabian assured, holding onto Riz’s hand, and the door closed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this sort of situation is literally impossible to imagine the feelings of, so if things feel weird and disjointed i apologise! this was one of the scenes i had pre-written before i planned this fic, and it's title in my google docs was 'oh no :('


	6. downtime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> riz comes back. gorgug rolls insight. fabian is jealous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> quick note: since the backpack catching scene never happened in this au, gorgug isn’t as hated in school, and he and zelda get together earlier!! 
> 
> quick intermission chapter, a little shorter than the others but i hope you enjoy!

Riz hadn’t shown up for a few days.

Fabian wasn’t worried, obviously. Riz was a private guy; he wasn’t likely to be sad where Fabian could see him, or comfort him. Fabian definitely wasn’t hurt by this. That would be ridiculous.

He sighed, and looked over at the mystery novel he had left on his desk. He hadn’t had the chance to start reading it with Riz, yet, and it lay closed and sad-looking.

Another movie night was in order, Fabian decided, when Riz came back. His room felt too quiet when his angel was gone.

No. What? Riz. The Ball. Not ‘his angel’, ugh, who even said shit like that?

Fabian scrubbed the frown off his face, and let himself fall face-forward onto the bed. This week has been too much. 

“Are you going to say hi, or are you just gonna lie there?” A gentle glow was just in his periphery.

Fabian lifted his head up out of the blankets, eyebrows raised. “Welcome back, The Ball.” 

Riz sat cross-legged next to him, staring at the ceiling; Fabian had insisted to his father at some point that he have constellations mapped up there, so that he could learn to chart the stars as he slept. It hadn’t done that at all, of course, and Fabian had just decided at this point that they looked nice, and he liked them, and that was enough.

“Hello, Fabian.” Riz kept staring up at the stars, but a small smile twitched across his face. “Good to be back. How have things been?”

“Oh, well. You know. School work. Taking down an entire cult in a week. Went to Basrar’s. Normal teen things.” Fabian breezed, sitting up to be parallel to Riz. “How was your sad little clue room?”

“Sad, and filled with clues.” Fabian watched as Riz's hand automatically went to tug at his own hair, a sign that the angel was overthinking something. “There’s something we missed, I think. I can’t work out what, though.”

Fabian frowned, and leaned forward. “You need some relaxing time. I think…” A slow smile grew on his face. “I have an idea.”

-

Riz sat with his arms crossed in mid-air, looking down at the bedroom that was now filled with mattresses and various other pillows. “Can you please tell Adaine to cast that spell, or something, Fabian? Please?”

“I asked, The Ball, but she insisted she save her spell slots just in case. Later into the sleepover, probably.” Fabian tugged him down, slightly, trying to get him to be less antisocial. 

“It’s a  _ second level spell,”  _ Riz hissed, but was interrupted by Adaine shouting over to them.

“Fabian, can you stop talking to the air and actually help us?”

Fabian glanced over at the wizard, standing with her arms crossed as Gorgug and Fig tried to lift a couch behind her. Kristen is sitting on top, for some reason.

“Please, Adaine, we both know I’m talking to Riz. It’s not his fault you can’t see him.” Fabian shook his head. “And he is much better at clues than you all are.” 

“Can you ask him what gods he’s met?” Kristen asked. “Or goddesses. Whatever.”

“Not any, actually.” Riz admits, floating up to sit on the couch next to her. “I was only up there for a few months for training. Got sent right back down here.”

Fabian relays this to Kristen, and she frowns. “Booo, okay. Tell your boyfriend his heaven experience sounds boring.” 

“What?! Kristen, he is not my- Riz, stop laughing!” Fabian spluttered, as the small winged goblin fell right out of the air with giggles. “Kristen, he’s laughing at me now! What even gave you the idea…” 

“You do talk about him a lot.” Gorgug mused, setting the couch down and letting out a breath. “I’m kinda sad I can’t see him, though.”

“Nobody can see him, Gorgug.” Fig catapulted herself onto the couch next to Kristen, and rested her legs across the other girls lap. “Fabian’s the only one, unless Adaine does her thing. So, he can’t exactly disprove the claim that he has an angel boyfriend.” 

Adaine nodded sagely. “If we see him kissing the air, we’ll know.”

Fabian, at this point, was flushed red and fuming. “Okay, great, can we all stop, just stop talking! You know he can hear literally everything!” 

Riz vanished and then appeared at his side, poking him. “We are best friends, though. You said.”

“Yes, The Ball, we are, of course best friends, but I don’t go shouting about it!” 

“When are you going to stop calling me that?”

“Prove you weren’t the ball, and I’ll consider it.”

Riz crossed his arms, frowning. “You know I can’t do that. It’s literally impossible.”

“Then you’re The Ball.”

Gorgug watched contemplatively. “It does sound like a romance thing.”

Adaine waved her hands around carefully. “Fabian, is he near me? Can I touch him?” 

Fig leapt up, excitedly. “Ooh, hell yes! Angel meets demon, battle of the century!” She began swinging her arms around wildly. Riz laughed, and hovered in between the two, trying to grab at their arms. 

“One of these days, it’s going to work, and one of them is going to punch you in the fucking face.” Fabian grinned, watching Fig almost knock Gorgug onto his ass. 

Riz raised an eyebrow. “Like how you did, at the start of the year?”

“We both know that was an accident. I thought you were a burglar!” Fabian protested. Kristen glanced at him.

“Fabian, did you punch an angel?” She snorted, leaning back. “Wow. I thought  _ I  _ had a complicated relationship with religion.”

“Can you all get off my ass?” He grumbled. “Fig, Adaine, stop swinging, I want to sit down.”

Riz flickered next to Gorgug as Fabian sat next to him, peering over at his crystal. “You know, I hate being a snoop, but he’s texting Zelda during a team meeting again.” He floated back. “You have to tease him about it for me.”

Fabian frowned. “That’s not true, you love being a snoop.” He tucked his legs up under him and glanced at Gorgug. “Also, Riz told me to tease you for texting your girlfriend while we’re supposed to be strategizing. I personally don’t care, but this seems to be a vendetta for him.”

Gorgug looked up from his texts, and tilted his head. “Maybe Riz has a crush on me instead?”

Fabian muttered “Unlikely,” at the same time as Riz said “Only a small one.”

The other four teens could only see Fabian go dead silent and stare at a spot next to him, before whispering, “I truly wish I could enact physical violence on you without looking like a fool.”

Fig whipped around. “Does he?! Fabian, you have to tell us, it’s teen law. Does your angel guardian have a crush on our drummer?”

“No. He does not.” Fabian deadpanned. “Riz loves jokes.”

“Are you jealous?” Riz questioned, as the rest of the bad kids got caught up in another discussion, and was met with the most embarrassed look he’d ever seen Fabian wear. “Oh my god, you’re jealous.” 

Fabian crossed his arms. “No, I am not. I am  _ only  _ surprised that you didn’t tell me, as your proclaimed best friend.”

“But if you had a crush on me, you wouldn’t tell me?”

“What?” Fabian turned to look at him, but was met with empty air. “Riz! You can’t just drop that line and leave!”

“I can if I want, asshole!” The slightly-panicked voice came out of the small space behind Fabian’s head, as it usually does when Riz pulls a vanishing act. “I do what I want! So, right now, I want to leave. Goodbye.”

“Riz, come back! The Ball, you...” Fabian spun around, frustrated. “Can we talk about this?!” After being met with only silence, he huffed and stalked back over to the other Bad Kids, wondering how exactly he was going to bring that up with him later.

-

Riz, hovering invisible by the ceiling, hands pressed over his mouth, furiously pretended that he hadn’t just done that. Crushes don’t work as an angel. Only one person can ever see you, and one day, you have to leave. Crushes don’t  _ work.  _

Friendships shouldn’t work, by that logic, either.

Riz sighed, and looked down at the others, happily chatting about some weird situation that Fig had gone through at a hospital that Fabian (and therefore, himself) hadn’t been present for. 

He was fine with having a crush on Fabian. Riz knowing was bi had been easy; the difficult part was understanding his romantic feelings. Being autistic didn’t help distinguish them from platonic, obviously, but it was mostly the anxiety from being both dead and also Fabian’s guardian that complicated these emotions.

Oh, well. Riz sighed, and opened his pocket dimension room, stepping inside. If he was going to hide for a while, he may as well get some work done.


End file.
